By: Surjit Singh Flora
On March 19, 2013, Pope Francis, the new Pope of the Vatican, in his speech on the first day of his tenure, gave indications of revolutionary reforms in order to remove the weaknesses that had taken place in the Vatican. Pope Francis’s campaign to improve how the Vatican works is still going on. As part of this campaign, steps are being taken to give women a special place and put them in important positions, which will stop sexual exploitation.
On Oct. 26, 2022, Pope Francis advised the Christian community not to watch porn. In what seems to be part of his first-day speech, Pope Francis told priests and nuns not to look at pornography online and told them to get rid of any pornographic content on their phones so they wouldn’t be tempted to.
In response to queries about how to use digital and social media in a responsible manner, the pope, who is 85 years old, said at a Vatican session that watching pornographic content online was “a vice that so many people have… including priests and nuns.”
Also, on January 11, 2021, a decision was made to give women equal status in the Catholic Church and the right to participate in the liturgical process, and the Pope said that women in the liturgy would one day become priests. will also get a rank.
And on June 1, 2021, after 40 years, they amended the laws of the Catholic Church to make stricter punishment rules in cases of sexual abuse. Priests who take advantage of their power and position to sexually exploit children or adults will be punished harshly under this law.
With the new law, bishops and other Christian religious leaders no longer have the privilege they used to try to hide cases of sexual abuse.
Now the bishop will be blamed for not conducting a proper investigation or allowing the prosecution of the accused priests. Under this, bishops can be removed from office if they are found to be negligent in not reporting sex crimes to church authorities or involved in the same.
Amendments to the laws governing the Vatican’s churches have been under consideration for 14 years, and the order issued by Pope Francis is considered the biggest step taken by priests in the last 40 years to prevent sex abuse. It is also accepted through this law that “saints” who abuse their rights can also exploit adults. This is the first time that pornography and sex abuse of children have been made illegal by the Vatican.
Also, on July 13, 2022, the Vatican made public a decision taken by the Pope some time ago, saying that under the desire to increase the participation of women at the highest level in the Vatican, the Pope has appointed the 5300 bishops of the Vatican worldwide ( For the first time, 3 women have been appointed to the committee to advise them on the selection of religious leaders. Earlier, there were only men in this committee.
The Pope said he wants to see more women in high-level roles in the Holy See (Vatican). The informally announced changes are significant because they will pave the way for women to play an important role in the election of the world’s bishops.
In a program organized in Vatican City, the 86-year-old Pope said that “pornography is like a disease that has also taken hold of priests and nuns.” Satan is now entering our lives through this medium.
The Pope said that “Those who talk about being in the shelter of Jesus, they should not look at porn. You have to get it off your phone, so you don’t get tempted. “
Like the decisions and comments of the past, the said comment of the Pope is applicable not only to the Christian community but to the entire civilized society, the adoption of which will bring certainty in life and some help in ending these evil habits.
Porn looks fantastic at first. Slowly, it etches us and grips us everywhere. Porn makes us happy. We hunt pornography for the interior bliss a person must experience or nurture and transmit. Without it, we lose happiness. In porn, the world appears lovely and boundless, but it’s not. People whose lives are unstable and plagued by many difficulties start seeking for happiness in porn. They’re trapping themselves without knowing it. Once a person can’t be happy alone, he’s lost. We can only face the world if we’re happy within. If we’re shattered within, we’ll be lost. Because its readily available, porn is hazardous.
Scientific ideas that say porn is safe won’t establish this. They aim for steady, unaffected volunteers to experiment on. They confront no cultural, religious, political, or other stigmas. If they did, they’ve adapted. Should someone adapt their happiness to porn?
Each person’s mental process is unique; hence such research can never encompass all factors. No scientific theory can anticipate how pornography affects a person’s surroundings and psyche.
Porn plays create expectations. Unmet expectations make people feel awful.
Sexual energy is powerful. Use it properly. Many have utilized it to transform their life. Porn movies cause erroneous imaginations, perverted thinking, and distracted sexual projection.
As the pope urged to be wary of it: “The pure heart that receives Jesus every day must not receive such pornographic information. So, lets all not only deleted apps from our devices but lets deleted from our minds, our thoughts as will.
Surjit Singh Flora is a veteran journalist and freelance writer based in Brampton Canada
